The Mystical Geek

One who calls himself arnold89  read my articles about the priesthood and asked me about the way I spend my day.  The question reminded me of a small book written by Leo Trese in which the author described his day as a priest with chapter titles based on the liturgy of the hours.  But I am not Leo Trese nor am I a diocesan priest as he was.  To answer arnold89’s I only need to look at my appointment book from last year and my five-month old 2008 agenda to remind me what my day is like.

And it isn’t all that exciting.

I must confess I am glad I belong to a community composed of three priests.  Otherwise, I would have difficulty keeping up three main pastoral activities: teaching, sanctifying and governing.  Right now, I don’t do much governing; I leave that to the parish priest.  But I am involved in teaching and sanctifying.  From Tuesday to Friday (Monday is our day-off), I can catch up on my reading and write some things in my notebook (the low-tech one).  Last year (November 2007 – April 2008) I was teaching a course on St. Augustine at the nearby Colegio San Agustin-Binan.  This semester, I will be teaching Social Doctrines.  Just preparing lessons can take up a chunk of one’s time.   From Saturday to Sunday it can get busy.

Two Saturdays a month, I have an extra mass celebrated in our Homes Along the Riles.  I started saying Masses at Maligaya VI in 2005; in 2007, Maligaya V also became a venue for our BEC eucharistic celebrations.  These masses are a sort of culminating activities for the Bible sharing our communities hold in those areas.  This year perhaps, I’ll find an opening in Maligaya IV.  The sisters  who live across our convent are already doing a bit of work there and since we are reorganizing the parish this year, I may be able to send a group there which would establish a Bible cell group.

In the afternoon of Saturday, I lead a Bible study group in Olympia I.  We have been meeting regularly since 2005, first as a Bible sharing group and later on as a cell group whose members are being prepared to establish other cell groups in the area.  For some months now, we have been taking in an extra hour each meeting for some technical stuff.  The “lectures” are intended to help the participants gain more competency in preparing the readings for the week.

Sundays are for masses.  I and my companions normally divide the eight masses and one baptismal rite among ourselves.  The first mass starts at 6 AM; we have the masses every hour until 12 noon and then two more in the afternoon.  At about 8 PM, the Chrysanthemum cell group meets at the parish hall.  This year I will be handling it.  We started the group in 2005 but because there were a lot of misunderstandings about the nature of the group’s meeting, I discontinued it.  The group again began to meet in 2007 after some of the members attended a BEC seminar sponsored by the diocese.  I suggested that the group invite the parish priest in their meetings.  The parish priest did accompany the group for awhile until he got transferred last May.  I began attending the group’s meeting last Sunday.

The above schedule of activities hold only for the time outside of Holy Week and Christmas.  During these latter periods, there are more activities.  In any case, the ordinary grind of parish life is never hectic.  There is time for study, prayer and work.  A priest only has three main activities, anyway.  If one would keep within those activities and not forget prayer and approaching the sacrament of confession, life won’t be so complicated.